'Never-use' plastic bags distributed by charities

[TaVa]

I just send the following message to our Southwark MPs Harriet Harman, Helen Hayes and Neil Coyle and would encourage everybody in Dulwich to send a similar message if you are - like me - appalled by the indiscriminate distribution of 'never-use' plastic bags by charities.

Dear Southwark MPs,

The government successfully introduced pricing for 'single-use' plastic bags; thus reducing their use considerably. But the amount of 'never-use' plastic bags indiscriminately distributed by charities to every household in the borough (and country) is appalling!

As a resident of Southwark (East Dulwich), I received more than 30 bags in less than 3 years (see attached photo)!!! Multiply that by the number of households in the borough (and country), this will amount to a huge mountain of plastic never used that will eventually land on landfills or worse: in the oceans. Environmentally very irresponsible! The worst 'offender' seems to be the Macmillan Cancer Support accounting for 12 of my 30 bags.

While I understand the need of charities to raise funds for their good causes, they should consider the impact of their distribution of 'never-use' plastic bags and find ways to avoid this environmentally bad practice. Perhaps they could use compostable and bio-degradable bags could instead, collect their bags for re-distribution, provide bags on request only, or similar.

Please use your influence to eliminate the distribution of 'never-use' plastic bags.

Thanks!

[Sally Eva]

I use mine in my kitchen bin. Many of these are scammy -- misusing the names of good causes etc.

[womanofdulwich]

Lucky you- save you buying a bin liner- I live in Lambeth and we have not been sent any bags from charities for over a year now!

[Sue]

I use all the bags left by charities, as bin liners or for collecting stuff to compost.

Why would you not?

[peckham_ryu]

Oh I thought the charity drivers were supposed to collect the bags back from your doorstep, including the unopened ones? I might be mistaken, or confusing them with Avon catalogues maybe. I wouldn?t leave them out anyway as they come in handy as rubbish sacks, or for taking stuff to the charity shop (not generally the charity that left the bag!).

[sweetgirl]

I don't leave my bags out for them to collect.... I'm quite happy to receive a free rubbish bag. 😀

[Callie]

I like getting the free bags too. They are great for using as kitchen bin liners🙂

[peckman]

TaVa

Good post . Im sick of getting them as well -- they arent even from charities themselves but third parties

[OutOfFocus]

I've tried using them and find they break. Maybe they were old ones starting to biodegrade.

Never quite trusted the van to pick them up

[Angharad_L]

Surely the benefit of recycling clothes outweighs the environmental impact of a plastic bag?

[macutd]

yes i too appreciate free bin bags

please keep them coming

[Mrs Townley]

Scourge on the environment aside, I'm afraid if you read the fine print, very little money goes to the actual charity for your clothes when you use house-to-house collection (like ?50 per TONNE!). We are all much better off giving clothes to a charity shop, where the charity gets roughly 50x more for the same clothes. Bags are slightly better than landfill, I guess, but we could do so much better in terms of both recycling and impact.

http://www.charitybags.org.uk/charity-shops-versus-house-to-house-collections.shtml

[no connection to any of this, btw, other than being appalled when I eventually read the fine print on those collection bags!]